Fiennes 'frustrated' at frostbite

Sir Ranulph Fiennes was forced to pull out of an expedition across Antarctica because of frostbite

Sir Ranulph Fiennes said he was "frustrated" at being forced to pull out of an expedition across Antarctica because of frostbite.

The 68-year-old was injured in a fall while skiing during training at a base camp in Antarctica and developed frostbite after taking off his outer gloves to fix a ski binding in temperatures of around minus 33C (minus 27.4F).

It has forced Sir Ranulph to quit the Coldest Journey expedition which has been five years in the planning, but he will continue to support the project through fundraising.

After flying back to the UK, the explorer told a press conference at a hotel at Heathrow Airport: "I'm on pills at the moment. The vascular surgeon I saw yesterday said that, in his opinion - he wasn't sure - two of the fingers definitely would not require surgery and two of the fingers might require surgery."

Although Sir Ranulph has had to give up the challenge, his team-mates will continue with the 2,000-mile trek, which they are expected to embark on later this month.

Sir Ranulph went on: "You could not put a better team together than that lot. I'm very pleased with and proud of the team in charge of the crossing. Everything is going totally on schedule as of today."

Sir Ranulph had a double heart bypass in 2003 and suffered a heart attack two years later as he came agonisingly close to the summit of Everest. He finally reached the top in 2009 on his third attempt, becoming the oldest Briton to do so at 65 years of age.

Hailed as the last great polar challenge, the journey across the Antarctic has never been attempted during the winter. The team will experience some of the toughest conditions on earth - near permanent darkness and temperatures as low as minus 90C (minus 130F) during their six-month journey.

Sir Ranulph would have been the oldest explorer to attempt the crossing.

Describing how he felt at having to pull out, he went on: "It is extremely frustrating. I started working on this expedition five years ago. I've been working on it and nothing else full time and unpaid for five years so it is definitely frustrating but unavoidable and I will make the best of it by putting my focus full time on to making my focus entirely on the expedition team."